Why buy a bar of soap instead of a plastic bottle?
With solid soap you can wash your hands and your whole body just as well as with liquid soap. You should not leave it for the quality. It is also just as hygienic as the liquid form if you at least let the bar dry well after use by, for example, placing it on a soap dish and not leaving it in water.
A bar of soap is more compact, takes up less space and lasts longer than soap in a plastic bottle. In the end, you will be cheaper off using a bar of soap.
Another important sustainable element is plastic-free packaging. The plastic packaging of all those care products eventually ends up on the waste mountain, or worse, even in the sea, with many negative consequences. Every year, millions of tons of plastic waste end up in the sea. This plastic does not decompose, but breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, which also become increasingly toxic. All those small particles of plastic in the water turn the seas into a plastic soup. This costs the lives of millions of animals such as fish, birds, sea turtles, seals, whales and dolphins. Some animals get entangled in plastic and die a slow death. Other animals eat the plastic and sharks are poisoned by eating prey animals that are in turn full of plastic. Plastic also gets stuck in coral and affects its health. Mussels, oysters and shrimp also appear to contain microplastics. Shellfish and crustaceans filter the water and this can cause microplastics to accumulate. People can also ingest microplastics by eating shellfish.
It takes hundreds of years for nature to break down plastic. We probably don't need to explain that this is a problem for the environment. More and more, alternative packaging is being sought. A bar of soap is usually wrapped in paper or cardboard and therefore certainly has an advantage over the liquid version in that respect.
